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So here’s a thing that happened.
There’s a startup space where companies loan money to small e-businesses to allow them to run a higher volume of paid social media ads and then get paid back with a percentage of each sale from the store. It’s clever and useful.
But —
There’s a startup space where companies loan money to small e-businesses to allow them to run a higher volume of paid social media ads and then get paid back with a percentage of each sale from the store. It’s clever and useful.
But —
That kind of business isn’t a great fit for Effin’ Birds, because I advertise almost exclusively as a joke.
Like that time I ran an Instagram ad to show thousands of strangers the duck that says Buttsauce.
Like that time I ran an Instagram ad to show thousands of strangers the duck that says Buttsauce.
I focus on growing through stunts and viral tweets and stuff like that, and it has worked quite well for me. I did run ads last year during my book tour to make sure the message was getting out about where I’d be — but again, not an ad tied to revenue.
Anyways most of the companies who have contacted me have taken this answer gracefully and left me alone.
But this one company, I ended up with multiple reps in my emails, serious bro-style “negging” of how I do things, and a lot of WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T NEED MONEY
But this one company, I ended up with multiple reps in my emails, serious bro-style “negging” of how I do things, and a lot of WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T NEED MONEY
Just the worst — if I actually wanted to borrow money for an ad campaign, I would never consider them because of how their reps acted.
Anyways they sent me a survey.
Anyways they sent me a survey.
It was a “state of e-commerce” survey. I decided I would answer it.
It was one of those surveys carefully crafted to deliver a specific message — basically that spending more on ads fuels growth.
It was one of those surveys carefully crafted to deliver a specific message — basically that spending more on ads fuels growth.
Funny story, though — my 2020 ad spending was 1/10th of what I spent in 2019, and my sales growth and social media growth was huge.
So I answered truthfully and with detailed numbers.
So I answered truthfully and with detailed numbers.
I figured I’d end up on their graphs as an outlier.
The report came out this morning and lo and behold, every one of my responses is not on it. All the places where I’d be have 0.0% of respondents.
The report came out this morning and lo and behold, every one of my responses is not on it. All the places where I’d be have 0.0% of respondents.
Well, maybe there were 10,000 responses to the survey, right? Maybe 0.0% is accurate.
Well, I have another piece of data — this email that went out to everyone who took the time to respond was addressed to 220 individuals.
Well, I have another piece of data — this email that went out to everyone who took the time to respond was addressed to 220 individuals.
220 people in the TO: field.
It has taken all of my willpower to not reply-all.
It has taken all of my willpower to not reply-all.
I did reply to the sender asking to be removed from all further communication, since they were untrustworthy enough to falsify their own survey results.
I’d have accepted that they dropped outliers for clarity if the text hadn’t gone to great lengths to say “every one of our respondents had the same experience”.
Anyways if you got a State of E-Commerce email this morning with 200 people in the TO: field, it’s bunk.
Anyways if you got a State of E-Commerce email this morning with 200 people in the TO: field, it’s bunk.
